Graduate student research

Students in the Master of Arts in Geography program are required to complete an independent research project as part of their studies. All theses and major research papers by our graduate students are listed below.

  • Jared Balla (2024) “‘Don’t Let Them Immanentize the Eschaton’ and the North American City: Competing Discourses over Social Planning in the Journal of the American Planning Association, 1936–2000” (thesis)
  • Tayebeh Dadfar (2024) “The Relationship Between Infill Development, Tourism Promotion, and Social Justice in Cities of the Global South: A Case Study of Ahvaz, Iran” (major research paper)
  • Anthony Dzacka (2024) “Gendered Mobility Inequality in West African Urban Settings: A Systematic Literature Review” (major research paper)
  • Aaron Geraghty (2024) “Exploring Pedestrianism in Contemporary Streetscape Planning: A Scrutiny of the YongeTOmorrrow Initiative in Downtown Toronto” (thesis)
  • Idris Khan (2024) “The Shifting Constitution of Space, Gender, and Mobility in a Context of Social and Infrastructural Change: A Case Study of Swat, Pakistan” (major research paper)
  • Jerin Lubna (2024) “Gendered Safety in Urban Public Transportation: How Urban Transportation Plans Reflect Women’s Safety in Dhaka, Toronto, and Stockholm” (major research paper)
  • Anthony Montagano (2024) “User Behaviours and Spatial Aspects of Navigating Heritage Tourism Sites with a Digital Interpretive Application” (thesis)
  • Lilian Nyarko (2024) “The Urban Exodus: Understanding the Impacts of Migration to Rural Municipalities in the Niagara Region as a Result of the COVID-19 Pandemic” (major research paper)
  • Fortune Addae (2023) “Emotional geographies of Black international students in Canada” (major research paper)
  • Harriet Botema Yeboah (2023) “International Development and the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Ghana’s Tourism Industry” (Major Research Paper)
  • Elena Campbell (2023) “Impacts of Public Transit on the Post-Secondary Experience of Female-Identifying Students in the Niagara Region” (major research paper)
  • Jennica Giesbrecht (2023) “Intimate Deathscapes: Examining Alternative Discourses of the Dead Body and Death Care Spaces” (thesis)
  • Vincent Konadu (2023) “Content Analysis of Affordable Housing in Inner Cities: A Case of Accra-Ghana” (major research paper)
  • Bright Opare (2023) “Kayayei Representation in the Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Articles from Graphic Online” (major research paper)
  • Maryam Shafagh Hir (2023) “New immigration trend as a threat to dream of home ownership in Toronto? A qualitative content analysis of a Reddit Thread” (Major Research Paper)
  • Lina Adeetuk (2022) “Rural Youth’s Perspectives on the Significance and Impacts of New Roads: The Case of Kaasa- Zogsa Road, Builsa North District, Ghana” (thesis) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Daniel Anane (2022) “An analysis of community participation in rural tourism in Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Telfer)
  • Joshua Boadi (2022) “Content Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism and Government Interventions; A case of Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Atsuko Hashimoto)
  • Rebekah Casey (2022) “There’s No Place Like (Rural) Home: Why People Choose Rural Despite Decline” (thesis) (Supervisor: Chris Fullerton)
  • Nikki Intyre (2022) “Tourism, Logging, and Community: Finding Balance in South Algonquin and Algonquin Provincial Park” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Chris Fullerton)
  • Kate Stewart (2022) “Creating Sustainable tourism Within the Niagara Peninsula Global Geopark: A case study focusing on Indigenous Knowledge” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Fennell)
  • Hannah Willms (2022) “Airbnb in the age of a housing crisis: a case study of housing affordability and vacation rental regulations in Niagara Falls, ON” (thesis) (Supervisor: Michael Ripmeester)
  • Julia Hamill (2021) “‘Molida’, That’s Shimshali Food: Modernization, Mobility, Food Talk, and the Constitution of Identity in Shimshal, Pakistan” (thesis) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Iris Yap (2021) “Sex and education?: Intersecting sex, education, and student activism” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Ebru Ustundag)
  • Philemon Coffie (2020) “Strategies to Manage Plastic Waste in the Niagara Region” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Brown)
  • Philip Dwomoh (2020) “Geography of Food Deserts in the Niagara Region” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Jeff Boggs)
  • Chelsea Fields (2020) “Detroit: Motor City or Creative City? The Alternative Media and the Politics of Citizenship” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Mike Ripmeester)
  • Jackie Gervais (2020) “Understanding Post-secondary Student Mobility & its Impact on Wellbeing” (thesis) (Supervisor: Christopher Fullerton)
  • Nicholas Mindorff (2020) “The Fearful Class: Depictions of Urban and Suburban Housing as an Indicator of Fear in Neoliberal Society” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Phil Mackintosh)
  • Aaron Nartey (2020) “Return Migration of Ghanaian Immigrants: Drivers & Reintegration Challenges” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Danielle Martineau (2019) “The systematic examination of thematic overlap between digital geographies literature and digital education literature when considering the ‘smart classroom'” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Jeff Boggs)
  • Dean Mizzi (2019) “Conceptualizing queer online spaces as similar to privately-owned public spaces: Opportunities for geographers” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Catherine Nash)
  • Katelyn Pierce (2019) “Detached from Our Bodies: Representing Women‘s Mental Health and Well-being with Graphic Memoirs” (thesis) (Supervisor: Ebru Ustundag)
  • Allie Rizzie (2019) “Energy Policies in the Context of Climate Change: A case study of energy efficient buildings in Canada” (major research paper) (Supervisors: Tony Shaw and Dragos Simandan)
  • Stephanie Murray (2019) “Defining Freedom: An Ethnographic Study with American Vanlifers” (thesis) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Khuram Farrukh (2019) “Social Media Representations of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, and their Relation to Metropolitan Domination: The Case of Attabad Lake” (thesis) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Senanu Kutor (2019) “Wisdom and cross-cultural interaction: a geographical perspective” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Dragos Simandan)
  • Adam Fischer (2018) “A Domestic Geography of Money: How Mortgage Debt, Home Prices and Toronto’s Condominiums “Prop Up” the Canadian Economy” (thesis) (Supervisor: Phil Mackintosh)
  • Daniel Amoak (2018) “Combating desertification in Semi-Arid Ghana: An analysis of rainfall trends and resilience in the Upper East Region” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Tony Shaw)
  • Benjamin Kwao (2017) “Sustainable Food Systems in northern Ghana: Assessing the influence of International Development” (thesis) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Connor Dingle (2017) “Mobile Technology and Reconstituting Place at the Matheson Learning Commons” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Catherine Nash)
  • Andrew McCartan (2017) “Glasgow’s Queer Battleground” (thesis) (Supervisor: Catherine Nash)
  • Alexandru Raileanu (2017) ‘”Wisdom and International Migration: A study of Romanian immigrants in Ontario” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Dragos Simandan)
  • Maame Achiaa Agymang (2016) “Climate Change, Food Security and Vulnerability in Northern Ghana’s Upperwest Region” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Anthony Shaw)
  • Diana Owusaa (2016) “The Role of Transnational Funeral Celebrations in connecting Ghanaian (Akan) Women in Toronto to Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Michael Ripmeester)
  • Michael Ayerh K. Ayerteh (2016) “Social and Environmental Impact of Large Scale Mining in Ghana: A case study of the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly’ (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Cody Vinnai (2016) “Feasibility Assessment of Norfolk County for Hazelnut Production” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Anthony Shaw)
  • Razu Ahmed (2016) “Assessing landscape-scale changes in shrub proliferation in Old Crow Flats, Yukon using remote-sensing approaches” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Kevin Turner)
  • Denyelle Huelleman (2016) “Consuming Niagara’s Agricultural Landscapes: A Regional Assessment of the Constraints and Opportunities for Developing a Sustainable Agritourism Destination” (thesis) (Supervisor: Chris Fullerton).
    • Winner of the 2017 Best MA Thesis, Graduate Research Writing Award for the Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Paul Tayler (2016) “Student Commuting Patterns and their Effects on Readiness to Learn and Academic Achievement” (thesis) (Supervisor: Chris Fullerton).
  • Rick Epp (2016) “Coming Out by Staying In: Men Who Have Sex with Men in the Niagara Region and How They Represent Themselves On-Line” (thesis) (Supervisors: Michael Ripmeester and Ebru Ustundag)
  • Paolo Russumanno (2015) “Art is the New Steel’: Marketing Creative Urbanism in Twenty-First Century Hamilton, Ontario” (thesis) (Supervisor: Phil Mackintosh).
  • David Szymanski (2015) “The emerging militarization of Canadian Sport, Space, and Society” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Phil Mackintosh)
  • Towfika Islam (2015) “Impacts of Climate Change on Rice Production in the North-Western Region of Bangladesh”(major research paper) (Supervisor: Tony Shaw)
  • Edna Abanga (2015) “Access to health care services in Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Emmanuel Kyeremeh (2015) “Exploring the discourse of skill/s mismatch in Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Jeff Boggs)
  • Myda Khatcherian (2015) “Is green the new black? An analysis of sustainable consumer discourses in Elle Canada and Fashion Magazine” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Mike Ripmeester)
  • Warren Jenkinson (2015) “Geographical applications for sound walks” (thesis) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Tomasz Wierzba (2014) “Transforming Downtown St. Catharines into a ‘Creative Cluster’” (thesis) (Supervisor: Mike Ripmeester)
  • Micheal Boateng (2014)  “Rethinking fiscal decentralization policies in developing economies: the case of Ghana” (thesis) (Supervisor: Jeff Boggs)
  • Pushpa Hamal (2014) “Rural road construction in the Global South: how does process shape outcome?” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Oscar Asiedu Kuffour (2014) “Disaster risk reduction in the human security perspective: the case of urban Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Lisa Arblaster (2013) “Impacts of climate change on agricultural drought and yield amounts in the Prairie Region, Canada” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Tony Shaw)
  • Heather Whipple (2013) “Extraterestrial human geographies” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Dragos Simandan)
  • Kerrie Pickering (2013) “Assessing the Adaptive Capacity of the Wine Industry for Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study of the Ontario Wine Industry” (thesis) (Supervisor: Tony Shaw)
  • Sara Epp (2013) “Competing and Conflicting Land Uses at the Rural-Urban Interface: Understanding the Impacts of Residential Developments on Agricultural Landscapes” (thesis) (Supervisor: Chris Fullerton)
  • Mert Coskan (2013) ““Illegal Aliens” and the Inconspicuous Geographies of US Immigration and Border Policing within 100 miles of the US-Canada Border” (thesis) (Supervisor: Dragos Simandan)
  • Jess Barber (2012) “Technologies of the Sexual Encounter: Grindr and Urban Gay Places” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Catherine Nash)
  • Richard Lagani (2012) “Door Locks and Domestic Space: Unlocking Key Knowledge of the Home” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Mike Ripmeester)
  • Natalie Currie (2012) “The Art of Resisting Colonial Education” (thesis) (Supervisor: Mike Ripmeester)
  • Meithili Mitchell (2012) “Eclipsing Renewable Energy: Ignorance, Indifference, and Inaction” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Jeff Boggs)
  • Pius Siakwah (2011) “Defying the Resource Curse Thesis: A Test Case for the Emerging Oil and Gas Industry in Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Dragos Simandan)
  • Ian Wood (2011) “The Neoliberalisation of Street Vending Policy in Lima, Peru: The Contested Politics of Citizenship, Property and Public Space in the Production of a New Urban Marginality” (thesis) (Supervisor: Ebru Ustundag)
  • Victoria Tasker (2011) “Application of Geomatics Technologies to Characterize Spatial Variability at Stratus Vineyards” (thesis) (Supervisor: Marilyne Jollineau)
  • Kayla Rell (2011) “New Urbanism and Smart Growth Ideas: Critical Evaluation and Assessment of Niagara Region Residential Communities” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Chris Fullerton)
  • Lisa Combe (2011) “Gendering the Economic Geography of Real Estate Investing in Niagara, Ontario” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Dragos Simandan)
  • Raphael Atanga (2011) “Tourism and Sustainable Development in Ghana: A Case Study of the Paga Crocodile Ponds” (major research paper) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Katie Hemsworth (2010) “Personal Soundtracks on Public Transit: Personal Listening Devices and the Socio-Spatial Negotiations of Students’ Bus Journeys” (thesis) (Supervisor: David Butz)
  • Ayure-Inaga Mark Anthony Agana (2010) “Sustainability and the Management of Common-Pool Resources: The Case of Irrigation Farming in the Upper East Region of Ghana” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Chris Fullerton)
  • Anokye Owusu Kwarteng (2010) “Race and Ethnic Relations in Canada: The Case of Visible Minority Immigrants’ Socioeconomic Outcomes” (major research paper) (Supervisor: Jeff Boggs)
  • Kirby Calvert (2009) “Scales, Networking and Uncertainty: An Examination of Environmental Policy-making in Ontario” (thesis) (Supervisor: Dragos Simandan)